American Agriculturist, July 28,1923 
53 
Whether You Are Wet or Dry 
You Will Find Consolation On This Page—Be Sure To Vote 
y ET or dry? 
^ / First the votes incline the bal- 
%/ li/ ance one way and then the other. 
▼ ▼ But every letter is so emphatic 
that we find our readers are not luke-warm, 
whichever side they favor. 
Here, for instance, is a wet who regretful¬ 
ly, but decidedly, differs with our editorial 
position: 
“For upwards of half a century I have 
read the American Agriculturist; first as a 
monthly under the late Orange Judd. Dur¬ 
ing all this time I have seen in your columns 
much to praise and very little to differ with. 
But even the best of friends may, as the 
years roll by, find themselves on contrary 
sides of some grave question. 
“In a late issue of American Agriculturist 
I read a letter scoring the prohibition law 
and your comments on the question. I am 
heartily in favor of your correspondents’ 
views and consequently opposed to your 
stand. Since reaching years of maturity I 
have known that the saloon was wrong and 
should go, and would have welcomed a law 
properly regulating the sale of intoxicating 
drinks. But the Volstead Act and the Mul- 
lin-Gage law were conceived by fanatics and 
passed, not as an honest expression of opin¬ 
ion,, but through fear which a fanatical 
minority was able to impress upon a supine 
and vote-craving Congress and State Legis¬ 
lature. The spectacle presented by our 
Government since the Supreme Court ruling 
on the Volstead Act must be a cause of sor¬ 
row and shame to all loyal citizens. 
“The abuses of this fanatical law have 
made us a nation of lawbreakers. I believe 
you to be all wrong in your idea of the per¬ 
centage of farmers in favor of the Volstead 
Act and the Mullin-Gage lav/. 
Your correspondent speaks of 
about 70 per cent, against; my 
opinion would be a much higher 
percentage against. I have had 
much to do with farmers in my 
native State, New York, and 
also in other States, and my 
home is in a section that will 
compare favorably to any, for 
intelligent and law-abiding,, 
farmers, and yet I do not know 
of one who favors the Volstead 
Act. They are not saying much 
—perhaps not one will write 
you his views on the question.. 
It is the “reformers” who desire 
to make the whole world as holy 
(?) as themselves, who are in 
evidence first, last and always.” 
—W. L. R., .New York. 
Another friend sets forth his 
views concisely: “It seems to 
me a waste of time to argue the 
question of prohibition. Of 
course we are for it. All sen¬ 
sible people are. How any per¬ 
son with reasoning powers, can 
say or think our country wor.se 
off since prohibition, is beyond 
me! The merchants and bank¬ 
ers in our country are pretty 
good witnesses that trade never 
has been as good as since the 
country is dry. Money spent for 
whiskey cannot buy shoes, 
clothes or groceries—or swell 
anyone’s bank account but the 
saloon-keeper’s. T h o se who 
want whiskey so much ought to 
be allowed to have enough of 
the poison stuff to rid the coun¬ 
try of them! Prohibition? Yes 
—and always.”—H. R., New 
York. 
By A. A. READERS 
A little humor is injected into the situa¬ 
tion by Mr. W. R. H. of New York: “Some 
of the ideas of the ‘wets’ would make one 
smile were it not for the fact that they make 
you mad first, and we find it hard to smile 
and be mad all at the same time. 
“I suggest that the wets get some kind 
friend to start up a real nice saloon right 
near their own front door, the nearer the 
better. Surely they will like to have it there; 
the noise is so entertaining and soothing in 
the early morning hours—in fact it usually 
operates almost the full twenty-four hours 
daily, Sunday included. A saloon right 
nearby is easy to get to quickly and it is very 
much easier to get home again without hav¬ 
ing to call up the police for support and help. 
An Influence on Property Valuation 
“Then again, it adds so much to the value 
of your real estate to have an up-to-date 
saloon adjoining the property. We notice 
that nearly all wets believe in and vote for 
the old license system. This, of course, is 
the correct way of giving the saloon-keeper 
the privilege of selling the goods and obey¬ 
ing the law at the same time, and so if Mr. 
Wet’s son, or daughter either, goes over to 
the saloon next door the first night, and gets 
gloriously drunk, it is only what might log¬ 
ically be expected to happen, and Mr. Wet 
has no kick coming, for didn’t he vote to 
give the privilege of selling? If his own 
children patronize a business of his own 
making, he ought to be satisfied, and re¬ 
frain from kicking anyone unless it be him¬ 
self. 
“To my notion at least, most ‘wets,’ like a 
PROHIBITION BALLOT 
OF THE 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Are You for the Strict Enforcement of the 
18th Amendment as It Now Stands ? 
Are You for a Modification of the 18th 
Amendment to Permit Light Wines 
and Beer ? 
□ 
Designate your opinion by placing an X in the square opposite Yes or 
No on each question. Sign your name and address. Your name will be 
kept strictly confidential. 
Name, 
Address, 
say 
Both sides claim 
The 
Why You Should Vote 
Do the American people want prohibition? The Wets emphatically 
“No” and the Drys are even more emphatically for it. 
a majority. Which is right? What do farm people think about it? 
opinions of farmers on any problem, if they will express them, go far in 
determining the outcome of a controversy. 
American Agriculturist is taking a vote of farm families on the ques¬ 
tion of prohibition. It is a vital issue and whether you are for it or 
against it, be sure to vote in the spaces above. Mail this ballet to the 
American Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
Get your friends to vote—Mere ballots furnished on application 
little of the ‘old stuff’ themselves occasion¬ 
ally. They also like that the saloon shall be 
near the other fellow’s front door rather 
than their own, and worst of all, they are 
quite willing to have the goods sold to some 
one else’s children, but they want their own 
family to be kept clean and straight. How 
to be ‘wet’ and not be decidedly selfish at 
the same time is a thing I have yet to learn. 
“Isn’t it nice to be able to walk the streets 
of even old New York City without seeing 
and smelling a saloon on three of every 
four corners ? Times and laws are far from 
perfect and the millenium is not here yet 
but it’s on the way and will arrive in due 
time.” 
It is not often that a woman comes out 
so strongly for a return to the old days as 
does Mrs. A. J. 0. of New Jersey. “Here 
are my views on prohibition. I never in¬ 
tended to vote because I think a woman has 
all she can do to attend to her home, but 
I am going to vote this year for the man 
who will bring back beer. We work hard 
and how often we longed for a glass of beer, 
the kind we used to get, and if I could get 
to Albany, I would pat Governor Smith on 
the back. Everybody I have spoken to say 
they don’t know how it was put over on the 
people. Let those who don’t want a glass 
of beer prohibit themselves. Is this a free 
country ?” 
Another opponent of prohibition is W. H. 
H. of Virginia. “I noticed on the Editorial 
Page of June 16th issue, your letter, also 
your question, ‘Are Farm People for Prohi¬ 
bition?’ My answer is emphatically ‘no’ for 
the State of Virginia or at least for this sec¬ 
tion, and I firmly believe it is true for the 
entire State. While a good many farmers 
voted for prohibition (simply 
because they were under the 
impression that they were do¬ 
ing what was best for the peo¬ 
ple and State at large), yet, if 
they had to vote on it again, <±9 
farmers out of 50 would vote 
against it. 
“Now, Mr. Editor, I cannot 
.agree with you when you state 
‘there has been a good deal of 
loose talking and joking about 
bootlegging, but when all is 
done and said, there has been 
less crime, less men in jail for 
drunkenness, less discord and 
unhappiness in thousands of 
American families, and more 
money to spend for the benefit 
of all of the family since the 
Eighteenth Amendment, than 
ever before.’ 
“If your statement is true in 
New York City and State, it 
surely is not the case in the Old 
Dominion and the largest por¬ 
tion of the other States, if news¬ 
papers are to be believed, as 
most of them state that more 
meanness is carried on from 
making liquor than ever known 
before. 
“If it hadn’t been for the 
‘stills and bootlegging’ business, 
prohibition would no doubt 
have been the best thing ever 
happened for the entire coun¬ 
try; now, it ruins and demoral¬ 
izes people. I know this is true 
in Virginia, as at least one-half 
of the people have a small still, 
making what they call liquor 
for their own use and some of 
their friends, or a large one, 
(Continued on page 58) 
YES 
NO 
YES 
NO 
